Advertising machinery.



L. H|LDBURGHI ADVERTISING MACHINERY.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1909.

Patented Feb. 22,1916.

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n EDEDDEQEIDDDDE n DDU DDD D D D DD UD IIIDDD DDD CIDE D D CI UD CIU Inventor J ,IIM .D Ad mi 3 a |d u www Witnesses @my ttorneys.

THE COLUMBIA PLANQGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. c.

WALTER Liso Q HILnnURGH, or wnsrmmsrna, tonnen; NGLANn To all whom t may concern: l

Be it known that I, WALTER Lno HrLn- BURGH, a citizen of the United States ot America, and residing at St. Ermins Hotel, lVestminsteryLondon, inthe `county of MiddleseX, England, lhaveg'invented av Certain' new and useful Improvement in AdvertisV ing Machinery, off which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relatesato improvements in devices in which a plurali-ty of plates is employed. One at least of ythe plates is transparent as to its base, rendered opaque in part, and the plates are capable of having a step-by-step f movement relatively to each other to show letters, iigures or other designs.

in myraish Patent No. 10,811 of 1906 I show two plates, one vof which is transparent and' partially covered with. two. sets A .of a pair ofplates` embodying my invention ;l

Fig.2 is a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;' g 1 of parallel, opaque lines perpendiculanto each other. The other plate is covered in part with lines so arranged as to form legtV l ble designs when viewed through the transparent areas of the first plate. Y

IThe lines on the first mentionedplate-are Y spaced aparta 'distance equal to the width of the lines andthe transparent areaspare. rectanglesk of a size equal to the width of. the lines. On the second plate the linesare v of a size to block certain transparent areas y in the first plate when brought into posi-1 With the arrangement vo lines and spaces described aboveit is ob vious that but four, separate-'designs maybe made by moving the plates relatively to each tion to do so.

other. y l.

The general objects of my-presentinvention are' to increase the number, l'of independent designs which may be shown, with one pair of plates, fromour to any:- number withinthe *limitsA of the particulark combination of y cations of the `visual areas; Fig-15 is a view' 'of a plate and a holder for the same showing parts used. f

These and. further vobj e'cts will more fully appear `in the -following speciication andaccompanying drawings gether or separately.

most of its surface withan opaque V material and thus producing a plate having regularly disposed transparent areas of smallsize, as

considered to- Application filed septemberfzs, 1909,. f .seri-aina,51,5a7.: f

empata aaefopaqa aaatawaaem and arrangedfinfregular order on -the plate in parallelYV lines. kUpon ,another-plate is placed a series oi V preferably squarev blocks, or their equivalents,- of 1color arranged s o that Wheln the plates`v are placed parallel with, and comparatively near to `each other,

different vdesignsV may be exhibited masking and, unmasking the transparent areas in 'the firsty plate vas the plates are given fa step-by-g step movement relatively to eachother. I

arrange the rplates so thatl such lmovement Y will be intermittent andthe extent of each; movement vertically or horizontally will be. equal tothe'distance inthat direction between the centers of the transparent areas.:

- In,the drawings in which similar refer-V Y ence characters .designatev correspondmg parts in allot the gures,

.Figur-el is a frontelevation of portions.k

Fig.. 3 isa similar View of a modification .showing the use of three plates and a different arrangement of openingsin one plate; v

Fig. 4 is a section onthe linea-4 of Fig. 3,' showing the topmost plate l.provided 'with a protecting cover of transparent material;A

are diagrams showing modifications ofthe i, 'i arrangements of the units; Fig. 9 is a view of a unit area of astationary -plate;Fig. 1O is a similar view of a unit area ofya movg able plate;` Fig. 11 isa diagram showing the relative positions of the areas'of visual` f ,90

effect in a` movable plateA for presenting thirty` independent designs; Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating the extent of the rela-fV tive movements of the plates ;-;F igs. 13l andiY 14 are enlarged diagrams showing -modii a sectional detail view showingjplates of transparent `material with the visual `areas bounded by opaque materialgfand Fig. is a detail front lviewfof a unitarea of-amoy-` able plate with modified -visual areas. g

; 1 In thadrwinga 1 :repress/MS @this I' which I Will designate thestationary plate. This plate is provided With visual areas 2` y regularly disposed in parallel lines, the areas being lequidistant and occupying a trifle les/sf than l/th of the narea 'of the plate.V Thatis to say more thanl 29/30ths of the plate is opaque and less than 1/30`th transparent, athe transparent areas being so disposed. that the plate is dividedinto a number-sof rectangular unitareas cachot which containsany opening 2 occupying'lessthan l/30th of the This arrangement is f' area of the unit. graphically shownV in Figs. 6, vandS; The Visual areas maybe openings inthe plate,

lor the plate maybe of transparent material with its surface, except at the,areas, covered lWith an opaquesubstance."l v

IWill describe, using Fig.l ll for illustration, hou7 each unit` may be formed. 0n a rectangle such as shown in the ligure, draw horizontal lines equal inthic'kness to l/th Y of the Width of the rectangle thro'ughthe and fifth vertical divisions.

first, second, fourth, lifthl and lsixth divisions, counting from the top.' This Will leave a. vacant space equal in Width to the *thickness of each line across the rectangle at the squares marked MF Y P &'. Now drav7 vertical lines of the'same thickness as the others, through the first, second, fourth This Will leave a. vacant lspace corresponding to the Vsquare marked Y in the figure.l A thin line may now be drawn around the edges of the space to produce a unit area such as is shown in Fig.f9. Such a plate if held toward a uniformly illuminated area will present, when the number of open spaces is large, a uniform appearance. According `to thel size of the openings, the proportion of the total` 4area which they occupy, they intensity of the illumination, and the distance 'from the observer, the effect 'produced varies from that l of a darkv field studded with patches of light, through that of a dark ield'studded with stars, and thatof a-dark field .cut by a net 'Workof light, formed-:by the intersectingpoints ofVA the stars, to lthat y of an. evenly,

illuminated field. Y a

I prefer to use theform of plate shown in Figs. l and 6 but where the designs contain Vmany inclined lines orl Where the openings are comparatively large, I may employ` the f arrangementsshovvn in Figs, 7 and -8 to improve the appearance of thedesigns.

If the open spaces Within a certain area of' `the stationary plate be closed, that YareaV will appear'dark as 'comparedrwiththe partially illuminated remainder of the field. It yis evident that the spaces thus closed may be" caused nto produce a dark area `of* predetermined form, such' as that lol the field of a letter-or other 'charactm Itl is also evident that the closing Vof the open space in each rectangular unit aref-Lof the stationary plate may be accomplishedby the interposition of yan opaque block occupying-only 1/30th of a unit area, and Ythat eachofthe f remaining twenty-nine sections or the thirty composingaunit areawmay or may notibe covered by an opaqueblock Whose action fisV ventirely independentofthat of the blocks.Y Y

The

occupying the-"remaining sections.l

openings ,ofthe stationary'plate may beso l set with-respect to one of a series of blocks .on anotherplate for example-as to produce;

a certain design, and with respect to another,1

seriesrofl blockslsofas to produce a design;

completely independent of the first design, and with respectto fa third series of blocks so as to produce kathird independent.desi-,13th,

until lthe full number ofpossible combina.-

tions'ot' the `units-of the tivo plates, .in 4this case thirty, have been produced. Irrconnection With the-plated, I employ a second plate 3, designated herein as thel movable plate rovided with lareas of ivisual eli'ect 4.' These areasmayl'be transparent Y as shown 1n F1g. 2 or, if thev plate'is to be= illuminated from: theside fromk Which'it is` observed, the areas maybe reflectingisur-- faces. The areas .maybe colored inV any.y manner so that a colored design may appear.

The areas inthe Inovable'plate maybe of.

thesame size as those ofthe stationary-plate i and are soV arranged that by the location of the areas of the movable plate in relation to those of the stationaryy Yplateau image will befproduced. In theembodiment of vthe inventionfillustrated I'showthe movable plateV asjcapable of having thirty areasof visual effect in eachunit area.These areas correi spondto the-tWenty-six'letters of the alphabet, ahyphen, anzapostrophe the char-- acter &,.and one area vacant.

In preparinga movable plate to'exhibit the characters V, G, Y, @,L and clarity',` for Y appear. Move the plate 3 one step tothe left and as thel space represented by K'is f opaque the character-Will be erased. By

vmoving the plate one step upward G Willi:

appear. On now -shiftingthe 4plate one'step tol theleft and one=upward,orf theequiva-` lent in a diagonal direction, Yfyvill' show.

Another stepupv and one to the left `will exhibit C'. TvvosimilairstepsWillproduceL'.

Movingitheplate `up one step andy toy the' right four steps all of the areas in the plate Willlfbe'illuminated. If ldesired the section last described maybe opaque in which case when the plate 3V is moved to bring those sections-bppositethe .openings 2, the whole of plate 1 will be in darkness.,

The diagram Fig. 12 shows a unit of a movable-plate capable 'of exhibiting all ofthe.

designs within its limits togetherwith the visual areasv 2 offour ofthe units of the stationary plate. Thel parts areinposition to show .clarity,if1the lowerk left hand section of thev movable plate be transparent, or; vacancy if the section be opaque, VfI`he distance a, VI) shows thefextent yof-each step of the step-by-step movementf vThe, disl tance c, al indicates the maximum extent of movement to produce all l the images in that direction. The distance betweencontiguous. sides of,V adjacent areas of tha-stationary plate isindicated at 6,71; Therefore,the maximum extent o f movement ,of the plate in either direction to produce all the images is equal vto the distance` between contiguous sides of adjacent areasin that direction of the stationary. plate minus the difference in lsize between a step inthe step-by-step movement and the corresponding dimension of the opening. y.

may be produced will be increased. Thus by' drawing the equivalent lof eleven lines.

vertically 4and eleven lines horizontallythe areaof the open spaces in the stationary plate is reduced to 1/144y of the total area,

and 144: independent series ofblocks may be put upon the movable plate. When designs such as letters are produced4 by the illumination of so small a part of the area which they would normally- 'occupy they jare, Aalthough sometimes feeble in intensity as compared withV their fields, perfectlydistinct and legible, so that in the proper circumstances even considerably smallerproportions of the normal areas may be 'em-V ployed for the production 'of the designs.

Then the proportion of the plate 1 occu` pied by the areas 2 ,is large the movable plate 3 may be opaque and the designs may beproduced byY light reflected from the plate 5 3 through the areas in plate l as shown in Fig. 5.

It is evident thatsince the etfectsof the`v plates are produced by their movement with respect one to the other, either plate may be fixed, Athe other plate' then having a vertical and a horizontal movement, or one plate may have a vertical and lthe other va horizontal movement, or both'- plates may' have vertical'and horizontal movements.

By making the areasin "some portions of the designs of different size than those in others, an edect of partial shading may be i produced. l

to prevent leakageofl lightpwhich willi Vproduce:an effect out off-all proportion to its amount, and for-.the reason thatwith areas of the same size as a-.step inithermovement a. very small displacement of the plates with. respect to eachother may-producesa .mutilation of the design..v The difference inl size.

between the. opening fand step in; the step'-v bystep. movement will 'constituteY a; border. I

The dimensions Aofgthis border` willvary in 7 5V `accordance witlrgthe dimensions ofthe die;V

inch on eachV sideand, about5- 7/256 inch atk 9ol the top andbottom. In Fig. 13.1 show, on

By increasing the distance between the` openings relatively to the size .of the .open-Y ings the number of independent designs which a magnified scale, pair of! divisions thus" bordered, `the upper.Y diagram representing a division; of the stationary. plate andthe lower adivision of thezmov'able plate. `The diagram (Fig 13) n represents the pairlof divisions whose dimensions have-been givenY above, and the diagram (Fig. 14.-) a pair of divisions for use underdit'erent conditions. In each of these l'diagrams the shaded portions represent the borders 5. vThe network of borders, occurring where` a number of open spaces are immediately adjacent to one another, is introduced partly in order to secure uniformity inthe illuminationv of thedesigns and partlyyfor 'reasons connected rwith i the constructionof the movable plate.

Several movable` plates may. be used simultaneously with one stationary plate.

. whenv the.; second platestands at vacancy (or clarity). It is evidentthat, except for the difficulties introduced by.' the limitations of tl 1e'materials. used,such as the necessary e thickness' ofthe plates or the lvdistances be. The visual areas are made smaller than.Y la step in the-step-by-step movement so as' tween Vthe plates,j any. numberrof movable platesmight be thus'employed together. 130

rit

In FigsV 3 Iand 4 Ia 'verticalr (or horizontal) section offa Vpair ofplates, 1 andy 3, is

shown, with a-section of 'a third iplate, 6, for varying the colors of the designs exi Ihibited. Y

Then it :is necessary to protect the mechanism: from :the effects vof the weather a sheet of glass 7 may bef-usedwfor the front ofthe pair of plates. Convenient forms ofl a' combined stationary plate and. covering glass-maybe produced by means similar to those described for tliemanufacture ofthe movable plates. The covering glass may,

of course,-be coloredas desired, inV Whole or in part.A

otra stationary-plate l and. ,two movable plates 3 and 6. 'The platesf' and 61 are the Vsame asth'ose. shown inFigl except iorjthe arrangementof :the areas in the sta'- tionary plate; The second movable platel @is shown as'having fits.y visuall areas ot colored glass for the purpose of changing the appearance `of the designsformed by the positions. of the other plates.v

Iny accordance with the. provisions of the patent statutes, I have' described the principle of my invention, together with the apparatus wl'iichI now'y consider-to rep. .resent the best embodiment thereof; but I desire to have it understood :that the ap'f4 paratus shown-fis merely 1 illustrative and there will be produced an image,'the two' plates being relatively movable stepbystep tok produce different "images, the .visual areas iii one plate being in the form of separately disposed small areas equally spaced in par allel lines, the distance of separation between contiguous edges of adjacentv areas being greater than the maximum lextent of the movement of the two plates necessary .to produeeall the imagesin that-direction, the other plate'havingV visual areas substantially equal in size to the visual areason the firsty plate, the dimensions of the visual areas `in the direction of the step by step movement being smaller than the extent of one step of the stepby step-movement.

2. The combination of two superposed opaque plates, one plate having transparent areas so arranged that light will passk through them, the other plate havingareas i of visual effect substantially equal in sizeto the transparent areas "ofthe first Iplate,the two plates being relatively movable ystep by step `toproduce dierent images by the VIn Figs." 3 and 24 I 'show an arrangement coaction of the-sai'dftransparent areasV and'V the -said aareas of visual,effectg'the-itransparent areas on the one plate being-inltlieV form ofr separately' disposed small areas equally spaced 'in parallel. lines, :the distance ",*0 of separationV between` contiguous edge'ss-of adjacent areas being greater than the .f maxi- .mum Vextent Vof the fmovementofthetwo plates necessarytoproduceall 'of the images i-n those directionsythe dimensions lof the 75'. areas of visual effect and the areas of trans` parency -in the direction of the` step 'by step movement being smallerthanthe extent of one, step ofthe stepbyj'stepmovement?.

3;,Thecombination of two superposedflgev plates, eachy plate'Z having visual areasfso i arranged that by thelocation of the one plate" in a predetermined relation to the other platethere will 'be .produced an `im'aga-fthe y two plates beingrelativelylmovable step byi step to produce diffrent images, the visual; f areasA in one platebeing intheformg of 'sep-1` arately disposed small areas disposed'inftwo. sets of lines perpendicular to eachothene'aclry set of said linesbeing/evenly spaced-fthe 90, distance of. separation betweenr contiguous edges of adjacent areas fbeinggreater than; the maximum extent of the movement ofthe two plates necessary, to producer all theim+ ages in that direction, the othery plate having visual areas substantially equal. in size tojthe visual areas on the `first plate, the dimens' sions of the visual areas 1n the directionk of the step by step movement being smalleri than the extent of one stepof vthe step by, 100l step movement.` p

4. The combination .ofl two -siiperposedv plates,` one being i ank opaque plate with Y lightv transmitting areas-and the other -`a marked plate with `light transmitting yareas 1105 and movablestep by step,fthe marked plate' having -its light transmittingareas tinted* in colors, the dimensions of the light transmitting areas ofthe marked plate, in the p direction. of the step by step movement,"be"11'o ingfsmaller than the extent of one stepof? thestep by stepl movement.

5. The combination" of two superposed plates relatively movable step by step, one

of `said plates having equally yspaced liglitiiA j transmitting areas, the other plate having.k light transmitting areas, the d-imens'ions'ofV such areas in the direction of the ystep .by step movement being gsmaller' .than theex- K n tent of one step ofy the stepV by step, moves v12o ment. f v6. The combination-fontl two superposedf plates, each plate having visual-'areas so arl ranged that by tlielocation'of the first plate ina predetermined relation to the other plate there will be'produced an image, theltwo-A plates being relatively movable ystep by step; to produce diii'erent images, the visual. areas'` in oneJ platebeingin the fo'rinof separately disposed small areasarrangedin two sets of 13el 1,173,360 A Y y i lines perpendicular to each other, the areas mensions of the visual areas in the direction in each linel being staggered in relation to of the step by step movement being smaller those in adjacent lines, the distance of septhan the extent of a step in the step by step eration between the contiguous sides of admovement .i jacent areas in each line being greater than This specification signed and witnessed 15 the maximum extent of the movement of the this ninth day of September, 1909.

two plates necessary to produce all the im- WALTER LEO HILDBURGl-L. ages inV that direction, the other plate hav- Witnesses:

ing visualareas substantially equal in size HY FAIRBROTHER, L0 to the visual areas in the first plate, the Vdiv JNO. ALDRIDGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for nve cents each, by addressing the"0ommissioner of Patents, Washington, IJ. U. 

